Morris County, New Jersey

Morris County, among the fastest growing counties in the New Jersey, New York, Connecticut metropolitan region, nestles amid rolling hills, broad valleys and glittering lakes approximately 30 miles northwest of New York City.

Rich in historic lore and tradition, Morris County was created by an Act of the State Legislature on March 15, 1738/39 separating it from Hunterdon County, one of the state’s largest counties of the period. Named after Colonel Lewis Morris, then Governor of the Province of New Jersey, it originally included what are now the counties of Morris, Sussex and Warren.

The county, first penetrated by the white man in 1700, today combines natural beauty and pleasant suburban living with proximity to metropolitan surroundings. Its rolling landscape is dotted with lakes and rivers which form most of its boundaries with the adjacent counties of Essex, Union, Somerset, Warren, Sussex and Passaic.

Much of its beauty has been protected and preserved by the Board of Chosen Freeholders through its Park Commission, formed by referendum in 1955 to set aside and develop land for leisure time and recreational use. Nearly 11,000 acres make up the system, one of New Jersey’s finest. Included are outdoor education centers, a marina, golf courses, a riding stable, indoor ice skating arena, cultural center, arboretums, and numerous types of hiking, cycling, wildflower and nature trails.

At its most distant points, the county stretches 30 miles from east to west and 30 miles from north to south. Its temperatures vary widely from area to area, averaging in the middle 20’s in the winter months and the low 70’s in the summer. About 50 inches of rain and 35 inches of snow fall each year.

During the Revolutionary War, Morris County was known as The Military Capital of the American Revolution , because of its strategic location, which prompted Gen. George Washington and his Continental Army to make their winter encampments near Morristown on two different winters. Much of the historic lore of these encampments is preserved today in Morristown National Historical Park.

In the years following the Revolution, Morris County was a leader in the iron ore industry, a fact made possible by the abundance of iron ore, timber to fuel the forges, and swiftly flowing streams to provide power. By 1880 Morris was the third county in the nation in the amount of iron ore mined, with 568,420 tons.

To process the iron ore, works and mills were built at several locations, including Morristown, Boonton and Dover. It was in Morristown that the steam boiler and some of the machinery for the Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and parts of the first American locomotive were manufactured and the telegraph perfected by Samuel F. B. Morse and Alfred Vail. The old barn in which the two men conducted their experiments and sent the first message ” A patient waiter is no loser “, is still standing.

By 1900 the nation’s business and financial leaders, seeking escape from New York City, the financial capital of the nation, discovered Morris County, its isolation, ideal climate and unspoiled countryside, and started the construction of large country estates. Within a few years it was claimed that more millionaires lived within a one mile radius of the Morristown Green than elsewhere in the world.

The fabulous estates were numerous enough to fill the pages of a pre-World War I vintage picture book entitled Beautiful Homes of Morris County . Possibly the most opulent were those of Otto H. Kahn, Hamilton McK. Twombly, Charles Mellon, Eugene Higgins, the Frelinghuysens, Claflins, James, Allens, Wolffs and Kountzes.

Since the turn of the century, the character of industry in Morris County has changed from iron mining to research, pharmaceuticals and light manufacturing. In the same period, the character of the land itself has changed from agricultural to residential. Beautiful homes and gardens predominate, both in housing developments, many of them located on the estates of former millionaires, to small country estates. New construction, both residential, commercial and industrial, is constant. There are large numbers of garden type apartments and condominiums, both in the towns and the countryside.

Today, Morris County is New Jersey’s seventh largest county. Multi-million dollar shopping centers and highway merchandising malls have combined with construction of world headquarters of name brand firms, discount houses, chain stores and food markets.

Morris County is the home of three universities, a two-year County College, and a County Vocational Technical School. One of every four high school graduates in Morris County attend the County College of Morris which reports a capacity attendance both for full-time and part-time courses. The high registration reflects the fine academic standings of the college, the wide appeal of its varied curriculum, and the relative cost-value of its programs in comparison to other institutions.

The Morris County Vocational-Technical School in Denville provides programs that will offer students the opportunity to acquire knowledge, skills and insight which will enable them to make appropriate choices in regard to their future, and to develop personal and professional options for an evolving technical society. Museums and cultural facilities abound in Morris County to augment those in the nearby metropolitan area

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